


You Must Forge Your Own Path

by Rain_GellerBing



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Percy Jackson Fusion, Canon-Typical Violence, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Established Relationship, F/F, M/M, Multi, Mutual Pining, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn, and, but actually there's not much, for avalance, for coldflash and constangreen, for zarlie, no one is straight, which is no surprise since this is the legends
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-03
Updated: 2019-08-26
Packaged: 2020-04-07 05:20:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19078300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rain_GellerBing/pseuds/Rain_GellerBing
Summary: When the Golden Fleece is stolen from Camp Half-blood, Chiron sends his best team to retrieve it. The days go by fast, and the Greek demigods ask the Romans for help.Will Barry Allen, young scout from New Rome, be able to help his new friends? Or will he be too distracted by someone with pretty blue eyes?





	1. Barry

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! I miss the Legends so much even if it's been such a short time since the last episode, so while we wait for 2020 I decided to post this fic I've been thinking about for a long time. At first it was just a little coldflash thing, but then I added the Legends and I ended up with this.
> 
> This fic is actually set in the Riordanverse, many years after the Percy Jackson series. It is not fundamental to be familiar with the PJO/HOO books (I am ignoring toa as canon and anyone who read it knows why) because I will try to explain everything. If some parts of the fic still confuses people without prior knowledge of the universe please let me know and I'll try to fix and/or clarify some points.
> 
> One last thing before I let you read. I want to thank my beta Call for her precious work and the excitement she showed right from her start, helping me take decisions and listening to me rambling.

**** Barry loved the feeling of running through the woods. He had always loved it, since before joining the Legion, since before his mum had died and his father disappeared from New Rome. Before vanishing, his is father always said that Barry's love for running was due to the fact that he was a legacy of Mercury, but the kid liked to think that it was something  _ his _ , not something that had been determined by a godly relative (in this case, his maternal grandfather).

  


Barry had been a scout of the Legion for years now, but running surrounded by trees never got old. Barry loved the smell of the woods, the feeling of the sun and then the cool shade flashing on his skin as he dashed from patches of light to the shadows. He felt thrilled, he never knew what he was going to see (even if mostly it was simply trees and the occasional animal, rarely a laughing Dryad). With the wind blowing into his hair he felt free. He felt like he was on an adventure.

  


Little did he know what an adventure that would be.

  


Barry was a good scout, which was why the Legion had decided to send him to help Camp Half-Blood to retrieve the Golden Fleece. The camp of Greek demigods had been protected from monsters by the Fleece, but it had disappeared a couple of weeks before. They had sent one of their best teams to look for it, but it was yet to be located and brought back. After discussing the situation with Mr. D extensively, Chiron had asked the Romans for help, and that was where Barry came into the game. Well, not only Barry, more like Barry and his team, but in that moment Barry felt alone. 

  


It wasn't, however, a bad feeling, because it actually felt like he was at peace with the world. Barry loved nature, it calmed him, which was why when he was a child, when he felt particularly sad, he had often run away from Joe's house in the city to run in the woods just outside New Rome. It had been reckless, but it had been worth it: thanks to this “training”, Barry had become the great scout he was, and at such a young age, since he was almost eighteen.

  


All of a sudden, Barry became aware of something wrong in front of him, something unusual, and unusual was never a good thing for a demigod. There was something strange with the shadows. They were swirling, contorting, darkening. Barry was running too fast to stop, though. That was one of his many defects: he was always too fast for his own good.

  


Barry run straight into the shadows. And, to his surprise, he hit something solid.

  


The collision made him stumble and fall on his ass, yelping an “Ow!” so unmanly his egregious grandfather would scold him for it. Not that he had ever seen Mercury (or was he planning to), but Roman gods were usually pretty keen on wanting their offsprings to be as strong and brave as possible. The entire education kids received in New Rome was based on this concept: everyone had to be capable of handling emotions, any of them, even fear and surprise.

  


Yet, Barry's yell concealed neither.

  


“Is this the best they could send from New Rome?” a velvety voice asked, and Barry looked up to see...

  


… To see the most beautiful pair of blue eyes he had ever seen. Scratch that, those eyes were even prettier than Iris's, and she had the warmest eyes in the entire city, and Barry loved them so much... 

  


Anyway, these eyes were different, colder, calculating, yet Barry knew that he could lose himself in them. He was also aware of the fact that he was gaping.

  


The eyes belonged to a young man who was towering over Barry, but the runner was almost sure that if he had been standing up their heights wouldn't be much different. The man was wearing a black shirt, mimetic cargo pants, and combat boots. He looked like a mortal soldier thanks to the outfit and a buzzcut, but the long-sword on his back betrayed him for a demigod.

  


Barry stared for a bit at the hilt of the sword. It was black, as dark as night, with a sapphire at the bottom; for the life of him, Barry couldn't tell which material it was made of. In New Rome they mainly used Imperial Gold, and he was pretty sure that the Greek used Celestial Bronze, yet that sword was clearly no bronze at all. Not recognizing the sword made him feel a tad uneasy.

  


Also, Barry realized that while he had been staring at the man and his sword, some time had passed (yes, Barry was quick on his feet and he was pretty fast in maths and chemistry, but his social skills were as slow as a sloth's).

  


“Speak for yourself! Did the Greek send a stalker to look for the Fleece?”

  


(A socially awkward sloth).

  


The guy raised an eyebrow. “What makes you think I'm one of the Greeks?”

  


“What makes you think I'm one of the Romans?” Barry remarked.

  


“Oh, I don’t know, maybe the t-shirt with SPQR written on that you are wearing, Scarlet.” The man pointed at Barry's red tee, and he felt himself blushing a bit. The guy had a good point.

  


“And you have a sword?” Barry didn't sound very convincing.

  


The guy rolled his eyes. “You won't go far if you trust every creepy guy with a sword that you meet in the woods.” The guy sounded like a snarky asshole, but at least he was kind enough to extend his hand to help Barry get up from the grass.

  


“I'm Barry,” the grandchild of Mercury said, once he was standing on his two feet, shaking the hand that the man had given him.

  


The guy rolled his eyes again. “You  _ do _ trust the first creepy guy with a sword that you meet in the woods, huh?”

  


Barry chuckled. “You're not the first creepy guy with a sword that I met in the woods.”

  


The guy smirked, but Barry interpreted it as a smile.

  


“I'm Len.”

  


Barry smiled back, and he was sure he was smiling dumbly because  _ gods, those eyes are beautiful _ , but a rustle coming from the trees behind Len made him grip tightly the dagger he had tied to his belt, ready for a fight.

  


From the woods came out a beautiful young woman with dark skin and an attire Barry thought would be more suitable for a punk concert than a stroll into the woods.  _ Gods, are all the Greeks so damn hot? _ Barry asked himself, as the woman approached. Barry couldn't really say how old she could have been. She looked his age, but something in her eyes betrayed that she could be older. She looked wise beyond her years, yet there was some mischief in her twinkling dark eyes and in her little smirk. She looked dangerous, and Barry felt slightly intimidated by her.

  


“You know you shouldn't use shadow-travel too much,” she scolded Len, sounding concerned, but then the woman moved her gaze to Barry, analysing him. She had a strong British accent, which Barry found weird to say the least, but he had seen some pretty unusual stuff in his life, an unexpected British accent in a forest in Florida wasn’t something surprising anymore.

  


Len rolled his eyes. “I was just greeting our new friend Barry here.” He pointed to Barry, who awkwardly smiled at the pretty lady.

  


“Barry, this is Charlie, but don't gape too much because she is taken,” Len jocked, and Barry felt himself blush again. Had he really been staring at the Greeks that much? “Charlie, this is Barry the Roman.”

  


Barry shot a look at Len, who smirked again.

  


“Oh, I bet getting to know you is gonna be a pleasure.” Charlie winked, and Len shook his head. Barry couldn't do much but blush.

  


“Where are the others?” Charlie continued. “We heard you approaching so our captain sent us to look for you. I'm pretty sure the Romans didn't send only one guy, did they?”

  


“My friends will be here shortly.” Barry looked at his watch. “Ten minutes tops.”

  


Charlie nodded. “Let's wait them at our camp then, it's close.”

  


Barry followed Len and Charlie into the woods. The three demigods walked silently to their destination, even if Charlie and Len seemed to be having a wordless conversation of their own. After a few feet, Barry heard what could only be sounds from the camp... which was a lot louder than he thought it would be.

  


It was a camp in the woods! It wasn't safe to be that loud! Hello? There were monsters around! What were the Greeks thinking?

  


In the middle of the camp there was a plastic table, and a broad guy and a tiny blond girl were sitting there, ready to arm wrestle, Barry noticed, while four other loud demigods were already cheering and making bets. An older guy with glasses was sitting in the back on a camping chair, looking half amused and half annoyed by the unprofessionalism of his team.

  


“What the –” was all Barry could say, before Charlie sprinted towards the couple. As soon as they saw her getting closer, the people cheering welcomed her, asking if she was going to place a bet too.

  


“What are you doing, Sara?” Len asked, after a sigh. He sounded like a concerned big brother to Barry.

  


The blond girl rolled her eyes, and then she gestured to the broad guy to take her hand. Immediately, the cheering grew in volume. Someone whistled. 

  


“Mick was being annoying again,” the blond girl, Sara, replied, smiling innocently at Len.

  


“Can't you behave for two minutes while I'm gone, Mick?” Len sounded more amused than concerned while talking to the guy. After a second look, Barry decided that Mick was one scary dude, and that Sara girl had to be out of her mind to think about arm-wrestling with him.

  


Mick snorted. “If Blondie here wants her hand broken for the rest of the quest, it's not my fault.”

  


“What did you do to anger Sara?” Charlie looked like she was having the time of her life.

  


“Just commented that it must suck to be so short,” Mick answered, and then he returned his attention to Sara. “Ready?”

  


“Are you kidding me?” Charlie huffed. “I’ve been trying to get under Sara's skin with creative insults, like calling her 'stuck up',  _ for ages, _ and it's calling her short that makes her snap?”

  


“Shut up, Charlie,” Sara replied, in a monotone voice, as if she had been saying the exact three words for two weeks.

  


“See!”

  


“Poor Charlie.” A cute girl with an ink-black ponytail and a flashy necklace winked at her, blowing a kiss in her direction.

  


“Thanks babe.”

  


Apparently, the cute girl with dark hair was the first – and only- one to notice Barry, and she waved at him. “You found a Roman in the woods?”

  


“Yep,” Charlie popped the p, finally getting close enough to what Barry realized was her girlfriend, by the way she hugged her.

  


“Hi, I'm –” Barry started to say, but before he could finish the sentence Sara ordered a “Say hi to the new guy.”

  


There was a not so heartfelt chorus of “Hello!”, then everyone returned their attention to Mick and Sara.

  


“On my mark,” Charlie’s girlfriend said, grinning at Sara and Mick.

  


“Ready. Set... Go!”

  


As the arm-wrestling match started, Barry smiled to himself. This group looked extremely disorganized, they were loud and a bit rude, and evidently they needed all the help possible to complete the mission, but they were a fun bunch, or at least that was his first impression. Barry thought about Oliver, his praetor, and how horrified he would be by the entire scene, but Barry just wanted to laugh alongside the others, despite not knowing them well.

  


As it turned out, the match was pretty short, with Sara almost dislocating Mick's wrist. Len rolled his eyes, whispering something Barry didn't understand because of all the voices around them.

  


Once the cheering was over, Sara went to Barry, extending her hand.

  


Barry shook it, smiling. “Barry Allen, from the Fifth Cohort.”

  


“Sara Lance, captain of the Legends.” She gestured around her to her teammates, smiling proud.

  


“Legends? Do people call you that or... is it something you guys say? Because that would be very lame.”

  


Sara and the others laughed at his words, but when she looked back at him, Barry saw something sad behind her eyes.

  


“Let's say that's what a lost friend used to call us.”

  


“Oh, I'm sorry.” Barry felt like an idiot for having asked. Life as a demigod was not easy, and he knew that especially the Greeks' life expectancy was pretty low.

  


In the meantime, the youngest of the group, no older than fifteen, had gotten closer to them. “He called us that because our adventures are usually legendary. Because nothing ever goes as it should.” The boy grinned, earning himself a playful punch on the shoulder from Sara.

  


“This little runt is Jax.” She smiled at him, and Barry noticed how close they were, kind of like siblings. “You already met Charlie and Len.” Sara pointed at the two other demigods, who had both moved to mix with the rest of the group.

  


Sara pointed at the two guys Len was standing next to. “Those are Mick the sore loser and his boyfriend Ray.”

  


Mick grumbled something, but Ray greeted Barry with a cheerful “Welcome!”, then he promptly returned to fuss over his boyfriend's wrist.

  


“The one standing next to Charlie is her girlfriend Zari, while our personal grumpy old man back there is Jax's brother, Martin.”

  


Zari waved, still hugging Charlie, who had a happy smirk on her lips, while Martin, who was clearly the oldest of the demigods, probably close to his thirties, went to shake Barry's hand.

  


“It's a pleasure to meet you, Barry.”

  


“While Nate is – where the hell is Nate?” Sara turned to Jax for an explanation.

  


“He's looking for a bit of ambrosia, he's afraid you broke Mick's wrist.”

  


Both Sara and Mick rolled their eyes at the same time, and that made Barry grin.

  


“I bet this is fairly different from what you're used to.” Len – when had he snuck up next to Barry? – had a eyebrow raised in question.

  


“Len, stop using shadow-travel to sneak up on people!” Sara scolded him, but then the girl saw Nate reappearing from the trees where he had put his supplies and she moved towards him to scold him too. Barry guessed she had to be the mother of the group more than the captain.

  


“Shadow-travel?”

  


Len shrugged at the question. “One of the many perks of having the Lord of the Dead as a father, I guess.”

  


That didn't answer Barry's question, since he still had no idea what shadow-travel was, but he nodded anyway.

  


“This looks like a nice team,” Barry commented, looking at the demigods in front of him, all chatting enthusiastically as if they weren’t in the middle of the woods, while on an important mission.

  


“It's a bit chaotic sometimes, but they're all a good bunch. Funnier than the Romans, I bet.” Len smirked, looking at Barry as if asking to prove him wrong.

  


“Speaking of which... my team should be here by now. I am a fast runner, but they should have arrived. They are on a chariot with horses.”

  


A dark feeling crept in Barry's chest. Where was his team? What was taking Cisco, Caitlin, Iris, and Wells so long? Had they been attacked by a monster? Barry had seen none while running, but now he wasn't sure anymore. Maybe he should have run slower, to keep more attention at his surroundings. It was his job, wasn't it?

  


“Hey kid, I'm sure nothing bad happened to them.” Len put his hand on Barry's shoulder, grounding him. Without even realizing it, he had almost let himself drift into panic, and the warm hand on his shoulder helped him ground himself and his thoughts.

  


“You sure?” Barry's voice was barely a whisper, but Len heard him anyway, and nodded in answer.

  


Sara had witnessed the exchange despite being pretty far from them, and acted accordingly.

  


“Don't worry, Barry. They're probably having some trouble finding us. Charlie, do you mind looking for them while we wait here?”

  


Charlie snorted in annoyance, but she detached herself from Zari's embrace, gave a mock salute and then she transformed into a jaguar, and then she sprinted back into the forest.

  


“Oh my gods!” Barry squawked, making Len chuckle.

  


“Charlie is a descendant of Periclymenus, which means she can turn into any animal she wants,” Len explained, and when he started to talk Barry realized he was still gaping, so he closed his mouth. Also, Len still had his hand on Barry's shoulder, and Barry started to blush because of how close they still were. Gods, those eyes were really gorgeous.

  


“That's pretty cool.” Barry had no idea if she was talking about Charlie's shapeshifting or Len's eyes, if he was honest with himself.

  


“Yeah, it is, but don't tell her I said it. Her ego is already big enough as it is.”

  


Barry felt scrutinized by Len's blue eyes. It was like the other demigod was looking directly into his soul. Which, for all he knew could be exactly what was going on. Hades dealt with souls, right? So maybe his children could actually  _ see _ souls. Barry had to ask at some point.

  


“Would it make you calmer if I went looking for your team too?” Len asked after a long pause.

  


Barry wanted to make a joke, because Len had sounded extremely entitled, but he was too worried about his friends, so he welcomed the proposal.

  


“If it's not a problem... that would really help, thanks.”

  


Len turned to Sara, waiting for her order. The blond girl just nodded, even if she didn't look too happy about Len's idea, and before Barry could understand what was going on, Len moved his hand from Barry's shoulder and his figure blended with the shadow of the trees, and the guy disappeared.


	2. Charlie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlie goes looking for the missing Romans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, here's chapter 2 :)

**** Once she transformed in a jaguar, Charlie tried to concentrate. There were many smells in the forest, and it was almost overwhelming to shapeshift into an animal with a better sense of smell than humans. After having put some distance between the rest of the legends and herself, she started to search for other human beings, but she couldn't feel anything close to her.

 

An uneasy feeling settled in her chest as she tried to find the Romans. The guy with the red shirt had said they had horses, right? She wasn't really listening at the time, and she cursed – even if all that came out of her mouth was an irritated growl – herself and her stupidity.

 

It wasn't entirely her fault, though. Zari had been there, and whenever she was around her Charlie could not see or hear anyone else. The two girls had had a rocky start, to say the least, but they had been dating for almost six months and those had been the best six months of her life. She never said it out loud because it was way too cheesy, but Charlie knew Zari knew, and that was enough.

 

The daughter of Nemesis shook her head. She was on a mission, she couldn't let her feelings for Zari affect the outcome of her job, and Sara would have her head if she messed up. It didn’t hurt that she didn’t want to disappoint her girlfriend, too. She took deep breaths, trying to find something that resembled the smell of humans or horses and after a moment she picked up the scent of the animals.

 

She jumped forward, running in the direction of the smell. Something wasn't right, and a feeling akin to fear wormed its way into her heart.

 

She smelled blood.

 

Her fast paws brought her to a clearance in which a wooden chariot laid on the side. It was a gorgeous piece of craftsmanship, with engravings carved to depict what Charlie assumed was some famous Roman battle. However, she couldn't really spend too much time in contemplation of the chariot, because she was looking for bodies inside the vehicle. Luckily, it was empty.

 

The smell of blood was coming from the two horses, both wounded. The poor animals freaked out when they saw a predator approach them, and Charlie changed her shape back into human, hoping it would calm them - at first, the transformation freaked them out even more, but then they calmed down a bit. One horse had a deep cut on the side, while the other had one of his legs under the chariot.

 

Charlie almost transformed into a gorilla to pick the chariot up, but her attempt was interrupted by the sudden arrival of Leonard from the shadows cast by the vehicle.

 

“What happened to not using shadow-travel for your own safety and health?” she huffed, trying to hide how much the swift arrival of her friend had startled her.

 

“Does this look like the time to scold me?” Leonard looked around and then swore, and Charlie couldn't blame him.

 

“You are right. Did someone –” Charlie couldn't bring herself to say it.

 

“No.” Leonard shook his head and then he closed his eyes, concentrating. “No one died in this place, which means that the Romans were... abducted.”

 

Charlie smirked. “Thank the gods the cute one made it to our camp before this shitshow happened, huh?”

 

Leonard gave her the iciest glare she had ever seen. “You can't really help it, can you?”

 

“I joke in uncomfortable situations, sue me!” She smirked, but then she decided to taunt her teammate later and save the horses first. She liked to get under Leonard’s skin, mostly because it was pretty difficult, and Charlie loved a challenge.

 

She pointed to the animals. “Do you think you can calm them down?”

 

The son of Hades snorted. “One, horses hate me. Two, you are the one who can turn into a horse.”

 

“Yeah, but I have to turn into something that can move the chariot,” she explained.

 

“I can summon –”

 

“No way I'm letting you summon anything. You know Sara already doesn't like me one hundred percent, if she knew I let you –” she interrupted, but Leonard didn’t her let finish.

 

“Who said you would be the one in charge here?”

 

“Sara sent  _ me  _ first, you joined only because the Roman is cute,” Charlie pointed out. Leonard didn't have an expressive face, but during the last two weeks Charlie had learned how to read him quite well, and she knew she had said something right, so her previous smirk came back to her lips, if possible even more smug than before.

 

“Oh, so I was right about the Roman boy.”

 

“I am not admitting anything.” Leonard moved towards the trapped horse, while the other wounded animal moved as far from him as it could. Both horses were antsy and restless, and Charlie knew that if they could they would have stomped on Leonard five minutes ago. Animals didn’t like Children of Hades, and Charlie understood that quite well when she was in animal form, because they smelled like death and danger.

 

Still, the other demigod was shushing the animal in front of him, trying to appear aa non-threatening as he could with a Stygian iron blade on his back. Surprisingly, he wasn’t doing a terrible job.

 

“I know you're doing this only to change the subject.” At Charlie's wink, a grimace appeared on Leonard's face.

 

“I am doing something pretty risky here, the least you could do would be  _ your _ job, animal girl.”

 

Charlie chuckled. “I really hope the horse won’t trample over you,” she said, and then she turned into a gorilla.

 

Moving the chariot was more straining than Charlie had predicted, but at least the freed horse didn't run away, possibly because it didn't have the strength to do so, or maybe Leonard had succeeded in calming the animal down.

 

“We should bring the others here, Nate has to save those horses,” Leonard whispered, once the horse finally let him touch his snout.

 

Charlie had changed herself back into human form, and her muscles and bones were sore from all the shifting and the lifting. Yet, she still could do what she did best: be the self proclaimed Queen of Little Shits.

 

“You want to return to your new friend so quickly?” She knew Leonard was right and that they should call the others to save the animals and follow the fresh trail of whomever had kidnapped the Romans. Still, it was so rare to be able to get under the guy's skin she had to say something just to mess with him for a little more, before returning to the chaos of the camp.

 

“Are you for real?” Leonard scoffed, exhausted, and Charlie couldn't help a giggle.

 

“Give me just one sec. If we come all here it will be more difficult for me to track the right scent to follow.”

 

Leonard nodded and waited for her to turn into a German Shorthaired Pointer to scan the area. Her muscles weren’t pleased, but she had to deal with it in silence.

 

Charlie sniffed around. The smell of the horses and their blood was almost too much for her to pick up something else, but then she found what she was looking for. She jumped inside the chariot, just to make sure she was following the right trail, and then she jumped out and followed the scent until the margin of the clearing, to know where to look for it once the Legends had arrived there.

 

Yet there was a smell she knew was familiar, but she couldn’t place it right away. It took her a moment to realize, and when she did her blood run cold. When she had left the camp she had had a bad feeling, and that exact bad feeling was coming back, only ten times stronger.

 

That smell was bad news.

 

Charlie turned into a girl again, and her face must have betrayed her feelings, because Leonard instantly wore a worried expression.

 

“Is everything alright?” he asked impatiently.

 

All Charlie could do was shake her head, putting her hands in the pockets of her denim shirt to make sure Leonard wouldn't notice they were trembling.

 

“I felt a familiar smell.” She swallowed. “Someone we know was here.”

 

“Someone we know?” Leonard hadn't clearly made the connection. “Who is it? Someone from camp?”

 

“More or less,” Charlie replied, and then she took a shaky breath. She closed her eyes to find some strength inside of her.

 

“I am pretty sure Rip Hunter was here.”


	3. Zari

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry and the Legends start looking for the missing Romans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of thanks to Call, because she is a great beta.
> 
> (You can find her at areyouscarletcold on tumblr)

Zari had a funny feeling in her chest. There was something about this whole thing with the Romans that gave her the heebie jeebies, and she knew that there was only one solution to calm her down. Now, if only Sara and Charlie weren't so adamant about her taking Nate's sleep potion every night... that wouldn't solve anything, true, but at least she would know what was to come, which was usually useful. Terribly scarring, but useful.

 

All demigods get premonitory dreams, it was one of the most common traits of the children of gods, much like having ADHD, dyslexia, and daddy issues. Yet, Zari's dreams had always been a little too accurate, to the point that she had dreamt with horrifying accuracy her brother's death for years before it happened. Of course, at the time she hadn't realized what her dreams meant, since she found out that she had been 'blessed by Apollo' only once she reached Camp Halfblood and had a long and tiring conversation with Chiron. Well, for all Zari cared, Apollo could shove his blessing up his –

 

A rustling from the trees cut off her train of thought, and Zari turned to see a familiar dog barking at them. Charlie had told her more than once which breed of dog she preferred to turn into, but Zari only knew two breeds: chihuahua and labrador. All the others were just... generic dog. Good puppies. She was more of a cat person than a dog person, sue her.

 

Snart and two horses appeared soon behind Charlie, the demigod's face dark like the sky before a tempest, and Zari wished again that her friends would just let her get a glimpse of the future, no matter how deeply it would hurt her to have one of her nightmares. Before going to camp and getting the right assistance, she didn't remember a morning in which she didn't wake up crying. Seeing the future, it turned out, meant seeing a lot of blood and death, which wasn't the best for a little kid.

 

“What's wrong?” Sara asked, turning to Snart for answers, but the young man was staring at the boy next to her. While waiting for Charlie and Snart to return with the Romans, Barry had gotten increasingly nervous, and Sara had tried to comfort him with one of her maternal yet awkward half hugs and a few soothing words, and the poor boy had attached to her like a clam to a rock, much to everyone's silent amusement. However, now Zari felt only pity for the poor guy. Whatever happened wasn't good, as Snart's face and the obvious absence of any Roman demigod clearly showed.

 

“We have good news and bad news,” Snart stated after a drawn sigh. For some reason, Charlie didn't transform back into her human form, but she let out an annoyed growl. “The Romans were attacked, and we didn't find them. But I am sure none of them died, they were just... captured.”

 

Barry didn't fall in shock only because Sara was keeping him upright with a strong arm. Zari's heart clenched at the sight of the boy's pained face. He couldn't be much older than her, but his features still held a childish quality that made him look younger than he was, and more vulnerable than Zari had imagined any Roman would be.

 

“I'm guessing the trail is still fresh, and that's why Charlie is still a dog, so that we won't lose time and follow it, right?” Sara inquired, and Snart's nod and Charlie's yelp were enough of an answer for everybody to start dismantling the camp as quickly as possible. Zari picked up hers and Charlie's backpacks, looking around to see if they had left anything out of them, while Nate patched up the horses, Martin and Jax put away the magical chairs and table, which all folded into a tiny briefcase, and Mick grumbled about his wrist while picking up Ray's heavy knapsack, complaining about how much stuff Ray considered as 'light packing'.

 

“There's one more thing,” Zari heard Snart say, and when she turned she could see that his eyes bore into Sara's with an intensity that would have given the chills to anyone except Sara and  _ maybe _ Mick. As much as Zari hated to admit it, the child of Hades was more intimidating than any of them when he wanted to be. “Charlie smelled Rip's scent in the clearing where we found the Romans' chariot.”

 

A general “Oh, fuck,” followed these words, and Zari couldn't help but agree with her teammates. Rip was bad news. Rip had run away from Camp months before, to do gods knew what. Apparently, cause mischief and misery. And with a demigod as powerful as Rip, no one could predict what was gonna happen. Well, not exactly no one, Zari reminded herself. When she was a child, some of her dreams had Rip as a recurring protagonist, but now too much time had passed and they were just faint memories. She only remembered flashes, images, and even when she seemed to recall, she wasn't sure if it was a real thing or if it had been corrupted into a fantasy during the course of time.

 

“We better get moving then. Quickly,” was the last thing Sara ordered them before shoving (as gently as she was capable of) Barry into Snart's arms to help the others pack and make sure they didn't leave anything in the woods. Her face didn't betray any emotion, and that usually wasn't a good sign.

 

In a matter of minutes they were all ready to go, and they followed Charlie as fast as they could through the trees. Zari and Sara were right behind the dog, an eager and nervous Barry right behind them. Zari had thought that the boy would keep asking questions, or crying, or both, but the Roman was taking everything rather stoically. Yet, his silent determination made Zari feel worse than a couple of tears would have. Barry looked like a cheerful guy who wore his heart on his sleeve, and seeing that the only emotion that was let on from his quick stride was badly concealed heartbreak was making Zari curse her empathic nature.

 

Walking into the woods became sort of hypnotic after a while. There were too many beeches and elms and oaks (or whatever those trees were) for Zari not to lose the sense of time pretty quickly, since she had no one to talk to. She usually would have had some sort of conversation with Charlie, and Sara would have butted in from time to time to remind them to keep it down not to attract monsters or to put an end to their usual bickering. In that moment no one was talking, not even Ray, Nate, or Jax, who would usually discuss which movie the current mission resembled the most (these kinds of debates usually ended with either Mick yelling at the nerds to shut up, or with Stein lamenting loudly about how he couldn't wait to go back to camp to his wife, and then he would start ranting about pregnancies and how he couldn't wait for November, when his first child would be born).

 

With nothing to distract her but trees, Zari soon lost track of what was going on around her. As she walked, she didn't really see the ashes or the hawthorns or whatever, because her mind was somewhere else. She was trying to remember the images of her old nightmares, trying to remember anything about Rip, unsuccessfully. She was fairly sure Nate's suppressants had something to do with her forgetfulness as well, and that not only the passage of time was to blame for her inability to remember.

 

What she did recall was the uneasiness she had the first time she met Rip. To be honest, she had been pretty shaken even before she saw the demigod for the first time. Her brother Behard had been killed by a giant scorpion right before arriving to Camp, and that had taken its toll on Zari. For nights she couldn't sleep, and for days she just sat unresponsive on the bed in the infirmary in which they had taken her once she had collapsed into the Camp. Chiron had tried to talk to her, and once she had physically recovered he had welcomed her to live at the Big House with him, instead of with her siblings in the Hermes Cabin. It had taken her a while to get out of the House into the Cabin, but finding out that she had other little siblings to take care of had helped, sort of. All of them reminded her so much of Behard, so sometimes she would just burst into tears in the middle of a sentence, and no matter how many of her new siblings hugged her and said comforting words, she missed her brother too much.

 

Zari had met Rip during the time she had spent at the Big House. He lived there as well, because Chiron and Mr. D thought it would be disrespectful to build him a Cabin. Rip didn't seem to mind, because the accommodations at the Big House were bigger and more comfortable than any of the Cabins, with the only exception of the Hypnos one.

 

Zari clearly remembered the fear she felt when Chiron introduced them, because it had been the first thing besides pain she had felt in days, and it had overwhelmed her. The fact that she had recognized Rip had helped Chiron understand the extent of the power of her nightmares, and the boy had looked both excited and saddened by the occurrence. Rip didn't have many friends, and since Zari and him were of the same age he had wished to become better acquainted with her. As it turned out, that didn't happen, since Zari had felt ready to join the Legends when Rip had already abandoned the team, but he had been the first to ask her to join the group.

 

As Zari almost tripped over a root, she tried to remember the conversations Rip and her had when they were both at the Big House. Rip at the time was pretty busy with Legends stuff, and Zari wasn't in the right mind to make any kind of friendship, but they had spent a couple of evenings talking on the porch or sprawled on a sofa, and they had inevitably touched on the topic of Zari's dreams. Rip, just like Chiron, had told Zari that he hadn't seen anyone with such a strong gift of prophecy, with the only exception of the Oracle, who, however, was at Camp Jupiter to try to reconstruct the Sybilline Books, so she couldn't be of any help to Zari.

 

Rip had asked her what he did in the dreams Zari had of him, but she didn't remember much of what she had told him. Only four years had passed, and yet it felt like forty. What had she told him? Something about babies? Something about a cave? She couldn't remember.

 

Zari became suddenly aware of what was going on around her when Sara stopped her from crushing her nose on a low branch of whatever tree that was. Zari really had no idea. Since she had joined the Legends she had told herself multiple times that she should start studying plants more because it could turn out to be useful, but she never did. She knew that no matter the effort she put in it, trees and flowers weren't her thing. Nature in general wasn't boring, but trees were.

 

“Try to keep an eye on where you're going,” Sara scolded her in a way that reminded Zari of when she had first joined the Legends, when Sara didn't like her much and she was still wrapping her mind around what it meant to be on a quest and to work in a team.

 

Charlie, still as a dog, turned to look at her and barked worriedly, but Zari waved at her trying to look more focused than she actually was. “I'm fine, girls, don't worry. Just a little spacey.”

 

Sara huffed something and resumed walking, so Charlie had to reluctantly turn away from Zari and sniff around to follow Rip’s scent. Zari smiled at the sight of her significant other (Charlie might have been a dog in that moment, but she was a cute dog). 

 

With the smile still on her lips, Zari realized that Charlie's complete inability to even take suggestions, yet alone orders, would have driven Rip crazy, at least from what the other Legends had told her about him as a captain. Not that Sara hadn't gone crazy at first, and Zari couldn't blame her since at that time she hadn't liked Charlie much either. Chiron had assigned the Child of Nemesis to them to have someone to keep an eye on her, because he trusted the Legends despite everything and he had thought that Charlie would somehow fit in the group of weirdos (Zari wasn't stupid, she knew that was how people called them at Camp). Chiron had made the Legends babysit Charlie only because she had destroyed half of the Camp in half a day and was probably going to destroy the rest in the remaining twelve hours.

 

At first Charlie had followed them more for survival than anything else. Then she started a prank war with Mick that escalated to the point Sara had to throw the both of them in a river because their clothes had caught fire. After that, Charlie and Mick had become great friends, much to everybody's annoyance, but the friendship between the two hotheads had an unexpected result: Charlie started to respect the rest of the Legends more.

 

Zari stumbled on a stray rock in the middle of the path they were following, but she played it cool and she thought no one had noticed. Now, if she could only remember something about Rip...

 

They had definitely talked about caves, but that meant nothing. Rip had traveled a lot, much more than most demigods, and he had been on more missions than anybody else. Images of him in caves meant nothing, because they had probably already happened before Rip left Camp.

 

What had Snart said? The Romans had traveled on a chariot? Zari didn't remember many chariots in her dreams, no matter how hard she concentrated. She spent at least an hour thinking about chariots, but nothing came to mind except, maybe, more than one image of a wounded horse. Which meant nothing as well, because it was a very generic horse, who could or could not look like the two horses that had become the new addition to the team.

 

As she walked, Zari tried to remember anything unusual about her dreams about Rip. There wasn't much, actually. She was sure there was a cave somewhere, but that was hardly weird. Demigods slept in caves all the time while on missions or quests. Another pretty common thing were backpacks, so why couldn't Zari get rid of the image of Rip with a Star Trek backpack?

 

The more she thought about it, the clearer the image became in her mind. At one point, she had dreamed of Rip Hunter with a black backpack with the Starfleet insignia on. Which was, to be honest, kind of weird. Zari knew that Rip had always lived at Camp, after being found by Artemis and her Huntresses (hence his surname), and there was no way Rip could have seen any of the Star Trek episodes at Camp, since all electronic devices were banned (if used by demigods they attracted monsters, as Zari had discovered; she wasn't allowed to play any video-game, and that drove her crazy).

 

Indeed, Rip with a geeky backpack was a strange sight. Maybe he had borrowed it from someone for an earlier mission? Zari had no idea, but once she focused on that dream she realized two things. One, Rip had long hair. Again, it wasn't something exceptional, but it did mean that, whenever he had used the black backpack he had been far from Camp for a while. Two, Rip was carrying a baby in his arms.

 

Before Zari could consider these new thoughts, they stopped into a clearing for the night. Zari cursed softly, hoping that no one heard her. How had she not realized that it was already so dark?

 

“Is everything alright, babe?” Charlie materialized next to her, stretching her limbs to readjust to human form.

 

Zari shook her head. “As fine as I can be after an afternoon walking.” She left a small but sweet kiss on Charlie's cheek, giving her back her backpack. “Let's help set up camp.”

 

In the middle of the chaos that was setting camp with the Legends – did Rip really need to take Gideon when he ran away from Camp? The resourceful air nymph had always helped them a great deal, especially when setting camp – Zari couldn't help but notice how there was someone who still hadn't talked (Even Mick and Snart engaged in conversation during such tasks, usually to tell whomever was helping them raise a tent how stupid they were).

 

Barry was with Nate preparing the fire and sorting our provisions but, while Nate was talking like a river, never stopping, Barry was silently listening to him. Or at least pretending he was.

 

Once she finished her task – trying hard not to kill Mick while they were putting up a tent – Zari walked to the Roman demigod, who turned to look at her with woeful eyes.

 

“Hey Barry,” she started, trying to look as least threatening as she could. She even smiled.

 

“I was wondering if I could ask you something. It might be odd, but I want to know one thing that has been bothering me for a bit.”

 

Barry nodded, putting a couple of bags of chips out of the pile of junk food they were going to eat that night.

 

“Ask whatever you want,” he said, faking a smile.

 

_ I hope that whatever I want to ask you doesn't make you want to cry, _ Zari thought, but she kept this to herself.

 

“Did perhaps one of your friends have a black Star Trek backpack?”

 

Zari knew the answer to the question before Barry opened his mouth, and she could also tell that her question  _ did _ want to make Barry cry.

 

“My... my friend Cisco had that backpack with him on this quest. Yeah.” Barry couldn't say much more, his voice almost breaking already just by mentioning his friend.

 

“I'm so sorry Barry, I didn't want to...” Hurt you? Make you cry? Zari was still debating what to say when Sara cut her off. Of course everyone had been listening to their conversation. Zari hadn't even realized how quiet everyone had been until that moment.

 

“And you know that because?”

 

A Sara with her arms crossed was never a good thing. Zari sighed. “Because I remembered a dream I had a long time ago.”

 

“So you  _ were _ spacing out while we were walking. What if a monster had attacked us?” By her tone, Zari knew that Sara wasn't angry at her, maybe a little worried, but not angry. Zari, though, didn't care, and she started to get upset.

 

“Yeah, but what if I had had a dream about Rip attacking the Romans? I had to try to remember! And guess what, I did!” Zari knew that it wasn't wise to shout in the forest, especially right before nightfall. Yet, her voice just kept raising in volume. “I remembered I had a dream in which Rip had a Star Trek backpack, and he had a baby in his arms!”

 

Barry looked too confused to even ask questions, but Sara looked like she understood.

 

“Thank you, Zari,” she said, soothing, and Zari took a deep breath to calm down. She smiled at her captain.

 

“Sorry,” she murmured, but Sara shook her head.

 

“No need. Chop chop guys, once we finish setting camp I can call Chiron, and the sooner I can do that the better.”

 

Zari went back to help her teammates, even if all she had wanted was to hug poor Barry. She was sure, however, that Nate wouldn't leave him alone for a second, and knowing Nate the two would become great bros in less than an hour.

 

Once everything was set, Ray and Mick started roasting a couple of chickens Snart had “found” that morning over the fire, while Sara, with the help of Jax and Stein, was calling Chiron from behind the tents.

 

“There's no alcohol in this,” Charlie complained, while sitting close to Zari, a little far from the fire, where Ray had started to sing something, hoping – and failing – to cheer up the mood.

 

“I don't care if you're old enough to drink in England,” Zari said, snuggling next to her partner, “but here in the US you're not, so you have to stick with apple juice, like the rest of us.”

 

Charlie mumbled something under her breath, and even if Zari didn't understand she was sure she had said something along the lines of “bloody bummer”.

 

“I'm sure our new mate could use some booze as well,” Charlie muttered, waving her apple juice bottle towards Barry, who was awkwardly sitting between Ray and Nate, who now where both singing the Indiana Jones theme, to no one's amusement.

 

“Yeah, we all need a drink when Ray sings.” Zari's heart fluttered when she heard Charlie's laugh. Making Charlie laugh felt like the greatest accomplishment to Zari, despite the numerous times she had made her laugh.

 

Thankfully, once Sara came back, one of her glares made Ray stop singing, and soon after dinner was ready. While eating, they decided to go to sleep early, as they were all pretty tired from walking, and get up as soon as possible the next day to follow Rip's trail. Chiron had given Sara the order to stay on that, and to resume looking for the Fleece only once the team who was looking for Rip had reached them. They also set the shifts to keep watch and, much to Zari's relief, Charlie and her were the last ones. Not that she looked forward to waking up at 4 am, but it was still better than being woken up in the middle of the night, because she could never go back to sleep.

 

Charlie wasn't as happy, though.

 

“I  _ hate _ waking up that early. Ugh.” Charlie looked furious. “You don't like waking up this early either, right?” she asked, trying to get Zari on her side to annoy Sara into changing the schedule to keep watch.

 

Zari was often afraid of sounding too sappy when it came to Charlie, but for once she didn't mind, so she replied: “Sure, but if I get to wake up next to you I'm going to be a tad less angry about it.”

 

Charlie groaned, clearly embarrassed, and everyone around the fire echoed it, annoyed. This made Zari grin like the idiot she knew she was.

 

“Do you mind if we share the tent tonight? You girls have more space, and that way I could leave my place in Len and Nate's tent to Barry, who I'm sure doesn't want to sleep with you guys,” Sara asked, knowing well that Charlie wouldn't have accepted her into their space so easily. Maybe turning into animals made people territorial.

 

“I don't mind, what about you, sweetie?”

 

Charlie rolled her eyes, because she hated being called 'sweetie'. Or at least that's what she said when everyone was around.

 

“Fine, I'll leave Barry to sleep in their tent,” she said, winking at Snart.

 

Zari frowned, but Charlie looked at her in a way that clearly stated  _ I'll tell you later _ , so she didn't ask further questions.

 

“I'm not sure I'll sleep much tonight,” Barry confessed, with a sigh. Somehow, this made Charlie chuckle, and Zari had to hit her with a elbow in the ribs to make her stop. Hopefully, Barry hadn't heard her.

 

“I'm sorry, Barry,” Zari told him, looking at him through the flames. “If you want, I could give you some of the sleep potion Nate makes for me, it helps as a sleeping aid too.”

 

“It's not a potion,” Nate scoffed, “It's a medicine. But I'm sure we have enough for you too, if you need it,” he continued, putting a reassuring hand on Barry's shoulder.

 

“I'd like that, thanks.” Barry's smile, for once, reached his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I won't make promises for next week. There's probably going to be a chapter, but we have to see if the Fates want it to be uploaded or not.


	4. Barry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some mysteries are solved. Yet, Barry can't help but think that it would be very convenient if everything could be solved by talking with a cute guy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many many thanks to my beta Call who had to work on such a short notice and still did an amazing job.

As Barry had thought, he had been able to fall asleep only when morning was close, and his dreams had been tormented and restless. All he could recall once he woke up was the cry of a baby and smell of rotten eggs. Between his own worries and the fact that Nate snored like a bear, it was a surprise that he had slept at all, and he was rather confused when he woke up, since he hadn't even realized that he had fallen asleep in the first place.

 

The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was blue, and it baffled him, because he remembered being in a tent. After a second, he realized he was staring into Len's unbelievably blue eyes and not at the sky, and that he older boy was saying something to him.

 

“Rise and shine, princess, we're about to go look for your friends.” Len smirked at him, and Barry's brain caught on the fact that not only he was staring at the beautiful man, but he was also gaping.

 

“You drool when you sleep,” Len teased when he didn't reply, and then he left Barry alone in the tent. The Roman boy hid his face in the pillow, knowing that a deep blush was coloring his cheeks. Why were pretty people assholes?

 

Once he deemed himself calm enough, Barry crawled out of the empty tent to see that his companions had already finished their breakfast and they were packing their stuff. Barry felt his blush return, this time for frustration. Were the Greeks treating him like a baby, by leaving him rest while they worked? He didn't need to sleep, he needed to find his friends. He didn't need coddling, he needed help in a fight.

 

“Hey Barry!” Charlie greeted him cheerfully, and he was suddenly wary. The shapeshifter had a dangerous gleam in her eyes that quickly made Barry uncomfortable, as if he had fallen into a trap without realizing it.

 

“Slept well?” she asked, handing him an energy bar and a thermos, after he got up on his feet.

 

“Can't complain,” Barry replied in a low tone, trying to make her understand that he wasn't in a good mood. If Charlie got the message, she clearly had decided to ignore it, because she broke into a grin that unsettled Barry even more.

 

“Sorry we didn't wake you up, Len insisted on letting you sleep,” the girl commented, smug, barely hiding a giggle. She was talking loud enough, so that everyone could hear her, and that further unnerved Barry.

 

“Shut up, Charlie.” Len wasn't even looking at them, helping Mick with one of the tents, but his tone was severe, almost threatening.

 

“He said you've been up all night tossing and turning and that you needed some peace and quiet,” Charlie went on, chipper, as if no one had spoken, “but if Nate hadn't vouched for you, I would have thought that  _ Len _ had kept you up all night.”

 

Charlie even wiggled her eyebrows to make sure the message got across. Barry wanted to die.

 

“Charlie I'm serious, shut up, or you'll meet my father sooner than you have planned,” Len snapped, turning to glare daggers at the daughter of Nemesis, who smiled brightly in return.

 

“Well, she's not the only one who thought that,” Mick grumbled, receiving the same treatment Charlie had, meaning dirty looks and murmured threats, to which he replied “As if you could kill  _ me. _ ”

 

“Are you challenging me, Mick?” Len spat, his hands tightening dangerously around the pegs he was holding.

 

“I don't know, do you have the guts to kill me, Snart?” Mick's hands also tightened in fists, and Barry got the feeling that these two fought a lot like that, since no one was even looking up from their chores to check the two young men.

 

“I don't even need to kill you myself, next time you're in danger because of your temper I won't move a finger to save your sorry ass, you hot-headed bastard,” Len snarled, walking closer to his friend. Or, at least what Barry had thought was his friend.

 

“Boys, calm down and don't try to get on my nerves so early in the morning,” Sara said from where she was standing, barely averting her gaze from the map she had in her hands.

 

“Sure, we will  _ chill, _ ” Len grunted, and Mick acknowledged his captain's words with his own guttural noises, yet it was clear that the two of them weren't far from punching each other anyway.

 

Barry helped Nate and Ray pack the tent he had slept in, after pocketing the energy bar to eat later. He was grateful to the other two demigods because they had probably understood how uncomfortable the conversation had been for him, and they talked about Star Wars trilogies to distract him. He chatted with them, but with a heavy heart; since he had been born in Camp Jupiter he hadn't been exposed to much pop culture. This was at least before meeting Cisco, who was some sort of Nerd Wikipedia and who had taught Barry everything he knew about everything geek and nerdy. The more he heard Nate praise Luke Skywalker and Rey, the more Barry missed his best pal.

 

He only hoped his friends were ok.

 

When the group was ready, they started to march pretty much in the same formation as the previous day, with Charlie, Sara, and Zari in the front, Nate and Ray tailing them, Martin and Jax behind and, to end the queue, Len and Mick. Barry had a hard time to keep Sara and Zari's pace, not to mention Charlie's quicker one (and gods, wouldn't Oliver rant about the importance of stamina and why a good night's sleep on a mission was fundamental) because of how tired he was, so he soon fell behind with the two nerds, who had started debating whether Tony Stark gave off a more Roman demigod or a more Greek demigod vibe (clearly he gave off a Greek god vibe and there was no discussion at all in Barry's opinion, but whatever). They tried to include Barry in their discussion, but again all they did was fuel the emptiness he felt inside his chest. After no more than half an hour he started falling behind, more because he couldn't stand the discussion anymore rather than because of the pace of the two Legends (and he knew that Oliver would reprimand him about this too, because no proper soldier should be fazed by any kind of distressing conversation).

 

It didn't take much for Barry to understand that being around Martin and Jax wasn't his cup of tea. They were talking about some project of theirs, debating calculations, tech, and whatnot. Barry loved this kind of things (when you were Cisco's friend you couldn't help but pick up something about mechanics), yet the two of them formed a too tightly knitted group, a union of minds in which Barry didn't feel like he could find his place. So he slowed down again.

 

He hadn't thought things through, however, because he soon ended up walking with Mick and Len, and the air around them was both freezing (because of Len's complete indifference) and boiling (because of Mick's constant mumbles and grunts), an atmosphere which felt everything but welcoming. Yet, it worked just fine, because at least no one was talking.

 

To be honest, Barry considered himself an extrovert and a talkative person and he enjoyed making new friends, yet in the conversations he had with the Greeks until that point he hadn't felt much involved. They all felt forced, as if his companions were trying too hard to distract him from what was going on, and as much as he appreciated the concern, Barry felt like he could do just fine without the ineffective and coddling distraction that the Legends offered.

 

“Didn't know anybody could be gloomier than a son of Hades,” Len snarked some twenty minutes after Barry had joined him at the end of the queue, putting an end to Barry's dearly desired isolation.

 

“And I can do it without eyebags and dressing like a goth. I guess it's natural talent.” Ok, Barry had to be sincere at least with himself. Len's attempt to distract him was far more successful and incredibly more welcome than all the previous ones. Not that the other demigod had to know that.

 

Len turned to look at him, and then he raised an eyebrow. “You might want to rethink the whole eyebags situation, Scarlet.”

 

Barry had turn his head to hide a smile, but he was sure that Len had caught him anyway by the mirth the other demigod had in his eyes.

 

“I can let you be if that's what you want, but I don't think that being in your head is going to help you.” Len wasn't looking at him while speaking, but in front of them, specifically at Mick's broad back. Barry hadn't realized that the gruff guy had fastened his pace, and at the moment he was angrily complaining about something with Nate.

 

“No, it's fine,” Barry said, pensive, “as long as it's talking and not, you know, distracting me.”

 

Len smirked. “The Legends are not known for being subtle.”

 

“You're one of the Legends,” the Roman pointed out, smiling at Len.

 

“Yeah well,” the other demigod replied, giving Barry a once-over, “I'm not known for being subtle either.”

 

Barry knew that his cheeks were probably of the same color as ripe tomatoes, so he averted his gaze.  _ Damn cute asshole _ , he thought. “I said talk, not flirt,” he acknowledged, once he had squelched his feelings. Oliver would have been proud of him this time.

 

“I'm afraid it's package deal, a pay one get two free kind of thing.” Barry wasn't looking at Len, yet he knew that the son of Hades was smirking, smug and proud. “But if you want to talk and not flirt then, pray tell, what should we talk about?” Len asked after a moment, and Barry instantly knew how to reply.

 

“You guys are not telling me everything. Like, who is this Rip dude everyone keeps mentioning? It sounds like a big deal, yet no one has cared to inform me about him.” Barry couldn't hide how annoyed he felt, being in the dark about something that was clearly important.

 

“Sara didn't tell you for lack of time, not because she didn't want you to know,” Len said, a veiled apology in his voice.

 

Barry didn't roll his eyes often, but he felt like that sentence deserved a similar reply. “I walked right behind her all afternoon yesterday, please don't tell me she didn't have time to talk to me.”

 

“Touche.”

 

They walked in silence for a while, and then Len took a deep breath, bracing himself for a long story.

 

“Rip Hunter is probably the most powerful demigod I've ever met, and possibly the most powerful I'll ever meet. I know you don't want me to baby you, so that's why I'm being completely sincere,” Len added, once he saw Barry's distressed face.

 

“I'm not even sure Rip is technically a demigod.” Len sighed again, his eyes looking forward, yet he was clearly not looking at his teammates, but at something else. A memory maybe.

 

“What does that even mean?” Barry asked, more confused than scared.

 

Len bit his lip. “How much do you know about Percy Jackson?”

 

“He is one of the people who saved the world from Gaia, alongside Jason Grace and Reyna,” Barry answered. He had heard about the demigods who, years before, had saved the world from destruction. He had even met Reyna a couple of times, and even Frank Zhang, because they were prominent figures in New Rome, and so were their spouses. Annabeth Chase was a renewed architect in the city as well.

 

“Sure. But do you know about what he did before that?”

 

Barry shrugged. He had no idea what had happened at the Greek camp before the reconciliation between New Rome and their 'cousins', and he said so.

 

“Well, Kronos tried to come back and take the Olympus, and little Percy saved the day multiple times,” Len briefly explained.

 

“Kronos as in the Lord of the Titans? Father of Zeus? Poor Percy,” Barry commented. As long as he knew he was brave, he also knew that Percy couldn't have been older than him when this Kronos thing happened, and Barry knew that no matter how brave someone was, defeating the Lord of the Titans when you were a child was not something anybody should have to do.

 

“I couldn't agree more. Anyway, while he was trying to get a human form, somehow, Kronos was able to have a son with a mortal, we're really not sure how.”

 

Something clicked in Barry's mind. “And that son is Rip Hunter?”

 

“Bingo.” Len was smirking at Barry's wits, yet there was something sad in his gaze. “The Huntresses of Artemis found him abandoned in the woods around the Lake District, and they took care of him for a little while, but after they had realized his parentage they brought him to Chiron. He grew up at camp, and four years ago he did something no one had ever done before at Camp Half-Blood.”

 

There was a certain air of nostalgia in Len's words, and something that almost sounded like regret. “He talked to some of us. A bunch of misfits who couldn't adjust completely to the life at the camp. Most of us had a record for being reckless, hotheads, or a literal criminal record outside of the camp.”

 

“Why do I feel like you're talking about yourself?”

 

“Because you're a lot smarter than you look.” Len almost smiled, and Barry smiled in answer.

 

“Do I look that dumb?” He raised an eyebrow in answer, much like Len had done before when pointing out the dark circles under Barry's eyes, although he suspected that he didn't look as cool as Len.

 

“Oh don’t go there, you look dumber than you think.” Barry made a sound of protest, but before he could reply anything, Len had already started narrating again.

 

“Anyway, Rip told us he thought we could be much better together than separated. He made us feel, for once, more important than the lost teenagers we were. Well, Stein wasn't exactly a teenager even back then, but he was far too eager to get into the group anyway.”

 

“So Rip formed the Legend,” Barry deduced.

 

“Don't say it like that. It was a big deal, and not only because we were the kind of people no one would have ever let go on a quest. I don't know how it works at Camp Jupiter, but quests at Camp Half-Blood can be carried on only by small teams, maximum three people. For safety reasons, you know.”

 

“More demigods attract more monsters, I know,” Barry cut in, and Len nodded.

 

“The Legends were the first official group of demigods with more than three members. We were a big deal, believe me. Nothing like that had happened after the seven saved the world from Gaea. Rip was trusting us with so much, and we had trust in him and in each other to survive. It was the only way, out here. And the Legends became... a family, for most of us,” Len said softly, and Barry knew that he was part of those people.

 

“I understand. The Legion is my family too, and it compensates my biological family being... very messed up.” It was the understatement of the century, but it summed up Barry's situation pretty well.

 

“Good.” Len's sweet glance made Barry feel more understood than words could have. “The Legends were a family. Hell, they still are a family of misfits and broken pieces. Even if Kendra and Carter moved to New Rome for uni we are still pretty close with them, and we easily welcomed Nate in the group. Then... Rip left us.”

 

“He run away?”

 

“No, he did that later. First, he resigned from his captaincy, leaving Sara as the lead, and he formed a new group. A trio. It was a hard blow for us when Chiron announced the first quest for the TB.”

 

Barry wanted to ask what TB meant, but Len didn't give him the time to do it.

 

“Some time after, he did leave camp. Almost six months ago.” Len averted the gaze so that Barry couldn't see his eyes, hiding in them whatever emotions he was feeling. The Roman demigod suspected they were mainly hurt and misery, or at least that would have been what Barry would have felt if he had been in Len's shoes. He couldn't clearly picture how he would have felt if for some reason Oliver resigned from the Fifth Cohort to join another group, and then he disappeared into thin air.

 

The thought of 'disappearing into thin air' made Barry remember something.

 

“I'm glad you were sincere with me about this whole Rip thing,” he started, and he was glad to see that Len returned to look at him, even if his eyes were strangely cold and did not show any emotion, “but you haven't been sincere about everything, have you?”

 

Len furrowed his brow. “What do you mean? Should have I told you before that I had a record? Or do you want to know that I went in juvie because I stole stuff?”

 

Barry raised his eyebrow. “You went to juvie?”

 

“Yeah, as I mentioned, I have a criminal record. Also, that's where I met Mick.”

 

“Why am I not surprised about any of this?” Barry shook his head, and he heard Len faintly chuckle. That low sound shouldn't have had the effect it actually had on Barry's stomach. It felt like the Furies were flying into it. It wasn't unpleasant, yet he knew he should not feel that. What would Oliver say if instead of catching whomever had kidnapped his friends or the Fleece all he did was catch feelings for a Greek demigod?

 

“What I meant,” Barry said, after having cleared his throat, “is that you haven't told me much about that shadow-travel ability of yours, and I can't help but feel like you're hiding something from me. Especially since Sara doesn't want you to use it that much.”

 

Len rolled his eyes, and then took a deep breath. “Fine, I'll tell you, but there's nothing risky in shadow-travel.”

 

“I'll believe you if you tell me why Sara is so concerned, then.”

 

It clearly looked like Len didn't want to talk about this particular subject. “Shadow-travel is... just a way of moving around, for me. You pop from one shadow to the other and really, it's very convenient, once you get the hang of it and you don't accidentally travel to China instead of Manhattan.”

 

“What?!” Barry hoped he didn’t sound as alarmed as he felt.

 

“Nevermind. It only happened  _ once _ , and I was  _ fourteen _ , I think enough time has passed since then.” Len grunted, almost in anger.

 

“Then why is Sara so worried? If you haven't gone to China more than once?”

 

Len sighed. “Shadow-travel is... a gift from my father. And, as every gift from the Lord of the Dead, it is not exactly... how can I say... fit for the living. Children of Hades take a much bigger toll when they use their powers than your average demigod. Technically speaking, if I were to use my powers too much I could easily faint, if not worse.”

 

“What do you mean worse?” 

 

Len sighed, and he stopped for a second, trying to find the right words. “Shadow-travel has an impact on bodies on a molecular structure. If used extensively, especially when the user is already tired, the user’s body could technically begin to fall apart and they could sort of become shadows, or to fall into what our healers call 'shadow-coma', which I personally think is a stupid name for a person passing out of exhaustion.”

 

There was a long moment of silence in which Barry had to process all that Len ad just told.

 

“No wonder Sara doesn't want you to use your powers much,” he finally said, just to fill the pause in the conversation.

 

When he talked, Len sounded more calm than before, but again, Barry was suspecting he was hiding his real feelings behind a cold façade. “Yeah well, I am not fourteen anymore. I can control my powers much better now, and my body is a lot stronger than it used to be. I can be useful, but Sara is always more cautious with our well-being than with hers, so she tries to force me not to use my powers, which are what makes me  _ me _ .”

 

Barry could relate to that. “You know, when I was a kid I always run away from home, and no one really understood why I did it. My mum was a daughter of Mercury, and my father a son of Apollo, so it didn't take a while to understand that I was running because I was leaning more towards one lineage than the other.” Barry snorted. “Yet, even as a child, I always thought that running was what made me  _ me _ . My powers might have come from some godly grandparent, but they were always  _ mine _ , you know? Not his.”

 

Len nodded, and when Barry saw his smirk he realized that, for once, someone did understand what he meant when he said that running was  _ his thing _ , not something that was only due to genetics and chance.

 

Soon after the group of demigods stopped to have a quick lunch. Barry didn't realize how much he was starving until Nate handed him a sandwich (he had barely eaten the energy bar for breakfast).

 

He sat down eating close to where Sara and Jax were, the young boy talking about a new project he was working on, an engine of some sort. Sara just sat there, nodding and mumbling at all the right moments, so that it looked like she was listening to Jax, yet her eyes were firm on the trees around them. Barry joined the conversation with the boy, who was excited to share his knowledge of mechanics with someone new, but Barry was continuously distracted by Sara's eyes.

 

“Is everything alright?” he asked, once Jax had got away from them to pick up another sandwich for him and Barry.

 

“There's a lot of birds in this woods,” Sara commented, her eyes never leaving the leaves.

 

Barry turned around to look at what Sara was looking, and he saw three birds on a branch. They looked like fat pigeons, yet there was something about them that seemed eerie. He couldn't point out why, but he felt, deep in his bones, that there was something terribly wrong with those pigeons.

 

“There's twelve of them around the perimeter of the clearing we're in,” Mick said, startling Barry, who hadn't even realized that the bulky guy had settled himself close to Sara.

 

“Thirteen.” She pointed to a new addition on her right, and both Mick and Barry turned to look at them.

 

“What do we do, cap?” Mick asked, nervousness and excitement mixed in his voice.

 

“At the moment? Nothing. They could be just birds,” she replied, still munching her sandwich.

 

“Yeah, just creepy birds that have been staring at us for the past fifteen minutes,” Zari commented, sitting down next to Barry, and Charlie right next to her.

 

“I could turn into a pigeon and find out what's wrong with them,” Charlie proposed, even if she didn't sound too eager to turn into a pigeon. Or maybe she didn't want to talk with the creepy birds.

 

“The eyes!” Barry almost yelled. “That's what's weird with them! They have red eyes! Pigeons don't have red eyes!”

 

A “No shit Sherlock.” from Zari was all the reaction his epiphany got.

 

“Five more joined,” Mick mumbled, looking at his back.

 

“Fine,” Sara almost whined, “take out your weapons, but do not attack first. If those birds are what I think they are –”

 

“They are what you think they are,” Len said, startling Barry again by appearing out of nowhere and taking his sword out, “those are Stymphalian birds.”

 

At Len's words, it was like all hell broke loose. The birds, maybe because they had been recognized, got up from the branches and dived on the demigods from everywhere. For their part, the Legends didn't wait to be hurt by the birds, and everyone had their weapons out before Barry could even blink.

 

Something soon caught fire, and with the corner of his eye Barry saw Martin and Jax holding two twin swords made of fire. He would have told them that it was impressive, if a bird hadn't tried to drill its beck in Barry's skull. Thankfully, something dark got the bird before the bird could get Barry, and the bird was pulverized before his eyes.

 

The dark sword was Len's, and the son of Hades gave Barry an annoyed glare. “Don't stare at us, Scarlet, try to kill the birds.”

 

One of said birds was going to crash into Len's shoulder very soon, and Barry had to thank his reflexes and his speed, because he quickly got his dagger out and stabbed the monster before it wounded Len, with a move that the Roman secretly hoped had been very cool.

 

With a smirk he said: “You were saying?” And then he winked.

 

Barry turned his back to Len, and the Greek demigod copied him, so that their backs weren't uncovered and the killer pigeons couldn't get them from behind.

 

“What are those things?” Barry asked, angrily because one of the stupid flying beasts had dodged his attack, and Barry had noticed that the birds had sharp teeth and how on earth could birds have teeth, and so sharp to boot, he had no idea.

 

“Stymphalian birds,” Len replied, lightly panting.

 

“Yeah, I got that,” Barry had to stop himself from cheering when the bird that was trying to kill him turned into dust thanks to his blade.

 

“Man-eating birds. They  _ love _ demigods.”

 

“I want to meet a monster that doesn't  _ love _ demigods. There must be one somewhere.” Barry was almost panting too, now that he was fending off two Stymphalian birds at a time.

 

“I am going to move,” he said to Len, a plan (if one could even call it a plan) forming in his head, “but I promise I won't leave your back unguarded.”

 

“You better not, my dad doesn't like demigods whose stupidity kills his children.”

 

Barry chuckled, but then he concentrated on his speed. Things around him started to slow down, or at least that was how it had always seemed to him when he became what he called 'the fastest man alive'.

 

(And yes. He didn't care that he technically wasn't a man yet, like Cisco often reminded him. And he didn't care if it didn't make him sound as cool as he thought, as Hartley usually pointed out. But he didn't care).

 

Barry used his speed to stab the two birds attacking him, and before their dust could touch the soil he had already turned around to kill the two birds that had been trying to eat Len. When he turned, Barry noticed that Jax had his right side unguarded, and a bird was soon going to eat his liver if he didn't move quick enough. Luckily for Jax, he didn't have to, as Barry threw his dagger to the bird.

 

The world slowed down then, and Barry rejoiced when his dagger killed the bird and did not harm anyone else (because yeah, it had happened before, even if he wasn't completely sure it was all his fault).

 

Before Barry could get his other dagger out, he fell forward, right into Len's chest, who thankfully caught him before he could fall to the ground.

 

“What the hell was that?” Len looked at him in awe, and Barry couldn't suppress a smile.

 

“A perk of being a legacy of Mercury, I guess. Superspeed,” he replied, once his breathing relaxed enough.

 

“Try not to kill yourself while saving me next time, Scarlet,” Len retorted, almost scowling.

 

Barry barked a laugh, and then he concentrated on his speed again. He got his dagger out, and he moved Len next to Jax and Martin who, with their fire swords, looked extremely thrilling. Then he turned to see Sara standing on a rather impressive pile of Stymphalian birds' ashes, two swords in her hands and a wild look in her eyes. She looked so different from the girl he had seen until then that it almost scared Barry, and he understood right away why a big guy like Mick took orders from a tiny girl like her.

 

Barry ran past her, since she clearly didn’t need a hand, to where Mick and Ray were standing side by side, and oh weren't they as an impressive sight as the rest of their teammates. Mick was wielding what looked like a lance, yet instead of ending with some sort of metallic point, it ended with a flame, that was roasting one of the pigeons. On the other hand Ray had... something weird on his hands. It looked like he was wearing gloves, only that, instead of being made by leather, wool, or another material that would have made sense, they were made of metal. Ray's right hand was holding a dagger similar to Barry's, only made by Celestial Bronze, while the left glove had a tiny crossbow coming out of the back of Ray's hand.

 

Barry decided he didn't have the time to admire well enough whatever Ray's weapon of choice was, and he ran past him and Mick to get by Nate's side. The poor guy was holding himself up against four Stymphalian birds, but he clearly needed a hand, and Barry knew he could provide.

 

The world sped up around him before he would have preferred to, but at least he had managed to kill two of the four birds before the effects of his super-speed disappeared.

 

If Nate had been surprised by Barry's appearance by his side, he didn't give any notice.  _ He must have seen some weird stuff anyway, far weirder than me _ , Barry thought, thinking about Ray's gloves and all the fire-powered weapons the group had.

 

“Could you give me a minute to regain my breath?” Barry asked to Nate, who briefly smiled at him and nodded, before returning to slashing hungry pigeons.

 

Barry took a couple of deep breaths. He was starting to feel the effects of super-speed, but he knew he could still go for a while. He concentrated again and he darted away from Nate towards a bear that could only have been Charlie. The girl was teaming up with what seemed to be a  _ ventus _ , a Storm Spirit in the form of a horse, who was stopping the birds in mid air, so that Charlie's paws could slash them easily. On a closer look, Barry realized that Zari was controlling the  _ ventus, _ since her stance gave her away. She looked like a proud lion trainer.

 

Barry reminded himself that he didn't have much time to dwell on how weird of a group the Legends were, and he ran back to Len's side, just in time to kill a ravenous bird that was about to eat the boy's ear off.

 

Even if at first they had been outnumbered, the Legends did a good job in killing every single man-eating bird that dared come close to them, while Barry run around the clearing making sure that no one got killed by a sly feathered bastard.

 

When Mick roasted the last bird Barry let out a cry of joy, before falling back on the soft grass below him. He had to get his breath under control.

 

“Good job, Scarlet.”

 

Barry opened his eyes to look at Len. He was looking at him, his smirk almost a smile, and boy didn't that do things to Barry's heart.

 

“Are you taking your dagger or what?”

 

After Len's words, Barry finally realized that the guy had been handing him the dagger he had thrown to save Jax. It hadn't even come up to him to pick it up, since he had been too preoccupied with running around and saving people's lives.

 

“Thanks,” Barry murmured, his breath still heavy.

 

As Len was putting away his sword, the Roman asked: “What the hell is that anyway?”

 

“This?” Len raised an eyebrow, pointing at his sword. Barry nodded.

 

“Oh. This is Stygian Iron, I guess you haven't seen it before, have you?”

 

Barry shook his head, too tired to speak.

 

Nate was passing around little pieces of ambrosia for them to regain strength and to heal the cuts the stupid birds had made on them (and they were lucky it was mainly superficial cuts, except a nasty deep slash in Charlie's shoulder, but it was healing well so no one was too worried, except Zari), and Barry thanked him for it. He took a bite and sighed at the taste of him mum's apple pie, and he returned to lie down on the ground, his eyes closed.

 

He soon felt energized enough, and he opened his eyes to go chat with the others and see if everyone was feeling better, but when he did he saw a large figure hovering over the trees.

 

“Oh my gods...”

 

Most of the Legends noticed his reactions and looked up. Sara groaned and readied her swords, so all the others prepared for another battle.

 

Len helped Barry get up from the ground, and the Roman sighed, looking up.

 

A griffin was descending on them almost lazily, and it didn't look like it would attack them, but Barry knew that with monsters one could never know.

 

He sighed, telling himself that, even if griffins were supposed to be pretty strong, they would be able to overcome one. Seeing the Legends in a fight had made him feel a lot safer than before.

 

Then, a voice, with what sounded like a heavy British accent, boomed from above.

 

“Lower your bloody weapons, idiots. It's just us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea when I will be able to post chapter 5, mainly because I don't know when I will have time to actually write it. I hope soon.


	5. Sara

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A plan is made, but Sara isn't sure whether she likes it or not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Sorry for the delay! I was meant to post it like 2 weeks ago, and then my laptop broke down. In the meantime, a horse almost killed me, so count yourself lucky that I'm actually here posting this chapter.
> 
> I'm going to update the tags, now that most of the characters are actually here, so check them for further info.
> 
> Hope you like where this is going ;)

Sara rolled her eyes. Even if she knew the voice coming from above, she still saw no reason to put away her two swords. However, before she could react, Mick ignited his own weapon, Heatwave, in the hope of burning the newly arrived griffin and the people who were traveling on it to a crisp.

“Mick,” she barked, and, even though the son of Ares glared at her as if she had killed his stupid pet rat Axl, he slowly put away his lance, hidden in a thin necklace the demigod put around his neck.

Sara did the same, hiding her twin blades in two rings, and she looked at the others to see them doing the same, as the griffin was still slowly descending on them. Barry was the only one who looked like he didn't get what was happening, while the rest of the group looked as happy as Sara felt, which meant that they all recognized the voice and realized what it meant.

First, she saw John's blond mop of hair, and she tried to tell herself that it wasn't that bad to see one of her oldest friends. The son of Hecate could be irritating at times, but he had been there for her when she had arrived at camp and Laurel had joined the Huntresses of Artemis, leaving her in an unfamiliar place and with only Len and Mick for friends at the ripe age of ten (and no one should ever be left alone with Len and Mick at such a young age). Of course she had bonded with John, the broody boy who clearly wanted to be anywhere but the camp and yet had nowhere else to go, pretty much like her. She could have gone home, of course, but the idea of putting her dad in the path of some monster had made her choice for her. On the other hand, John had literally no one to go back to. 

Things had got awkward some years after, when, despite Len’s warnings about hooking up with friends, John and her had a fling. It didn't end badly, yet when John joined the TB after Rip disappeared, Sara couldn't help but feel a little betrayed by one of her best friends, and that was why, when she had heard John’s voice booming from above, she had been quite unhappy. 

To make things worse, John hadn’t been much around since joining the TB because they were busy looking for Rip, which meant that the two friends hadn’t got the chance to talk about hurt feelings. Knowing them, the chances that they would have talked about hurt feelings was pretty low anyway, but Sara was trying to ignore the thought while she was holding a grudge. 

John, however, wasn't the person she didn't want to see. She braced herself, but she couldn't help but feel a tiny bit of rage when John and his companions got off of the griffin. Well, Gary almost fell off the griffin and John had to catch him by the shirt so that he wouldn’t break his nose and glasses on the ground (a scene that got quite a few chuckles out of the Legends, and an uncontrolled belly-laugh from Charlie), but John and Ava got off of the griffin quite gracefully.

Ava Sharpe.

Sara couldn't stand the girl one bit. She was so full of herself, stubborn, pretentious, and an infuriating know-all. Ava and her stupid regal posture and the air she gave herself of being a capable leader of people who actually listened to her.

Hades, if I only had to deal with Gary and John I would be listened to every time too, Sara thought bitterly. Not that she didn't love the Legends, but they didn't have the best record in following orders. She had been like that too, before becoming the captain by popular demand after a failed experiment with Martin as the lead. The Legends didn't listen to Chiron or even Rip, how was she supposed to be a strong and functional leader? It was a constant struggle. 

What could she do to be a better captain? Sara had been asking herself this question for more than one year, and she had yet to find a good answer.

“How are things going, daughter of Aphrodite?” Ava asked her professionally, even if it wasn't hard to hear a vein of mockery in her tone while mentioning her parentage.

Sara raised an eyebrow. “You are a child of Iris, you don't get to criticize my heritage.”

“Wait, you are a child of Aphrodite?” Barry's surprised voice made both Sara and Ava turn to look at him, effectively distracting them from hurting each other verbally and/or physically.

Barry almost trembled under Sara's gaze. She knew that when she was pissed she could be scary, Laurel had told her that enough times. And one of the things that pissed Sara off the most was people underestimating her, or her mother.

When she had first learned about her godly parent, Sara had thought that there must have been a mistake. Laurel, a daughter of Aphrodite? She could see that. Everybody loved Laurel, she was gorgeous and amazing, and with a smile and a couple of kind words she could make everybody do whatever she wanted. 

But Sara? Sara was a tomboy, she preferred playing Pokemon than with dolls, she was always picking fights with bullies, and she was sent to detention more days than not because she couldn't stand unjust teachers. To say that it had been a surprise when she found out that her mother was the goddess of Love was an understatement.

Yet, Rip had helped her understand that no, it wasn't surprising at all. Sara's power laid in her emotions. They were the fuel of her every move, they guided her, they made her better. And then Sara realized that what made her strong was not the rage she felt when facing an injustice, but it was love. Love for people who could not protect themselves, people who deserved better, who had to be protected. That was why she was so angry all the time: because seeing people she loved being mistreated enraged her. Maybe she was too caring for her own good, but that was what made her strong.

Barry raised his hands in apology (or to protect himself, Sara couldn't tell), but before she could say anything John started speaking, efficiently distracting her again.

“We're here to talk, love. Just talk. We'll be out of your hair in no time.”

Sara rolled her eyes, knowing fully well that there was no way that the TB would be gone from her sight any time soon. And even if it happened soon it would still be too late for her.

“Sure. You’re not even making a promise to get away soon,” she muttered to herself, and then she sighed. 

“Let's set camp and rest a bit while I catch up with John and the others,” Sara told her Legends, exchanging a quick look with Len and Martin, making them understand that she wanted them to join her while she had to talk with Ava "Little Miss Perfect" Sharpe. She had chosen them because they were the ones with most self control of the Legends, and she could count on them to calm her down if needed.

Sara, Len, and Martin set up some chairs and the table, while the TB got their stuff off the griffin, who John made disappear in a cloud of Mist. As Sara had suspected, the creature had been made up by magic. She wouldn't have put it beyond John to befriend a griffin, but she couldn't picture any creature willingly decide to work for Ava Sharpe, even if her friend had done just that a few months before. Sara suspected that sweet but dumb Gary Green factored in John's choice to join the TB more than Ava’s leading capabilities, but she kept it to herself. As mentioned before, talking about feelings had always been hard with John, and especially about romantic connections, since deep down neither of them felt like they deserved to be loved, so she would never bring up the topic of Gary Green to her friend.

“Gary, do you mind helping the others out while John and I discuss things with Captain Lance?” Ava commanded to Gary, who looked a little hurt, but Sara rolled her eyes at hearing Ava use her title and her surname to refer to her. No one did that, except Gideon, since the nymph was always weirdly formal with all of them. Sometimes the Legends did call her Captain, but she mostly answered by her name, almost never by her surname. Calling her ‘Captain Lance’ was so formal and pretentious, ugh.

Once a table and some chairs were set, Sara sat right in front of Ava, with Martin on her right and John on her left, while Len preferred to stand behind her, ready to tackle her in case she decided to strangle Ava Sharpe during the meeting. The fact that Len was already thinking about such a contingency plan made her angrier than she should have been before a meeting with two thirds of the TB. Her friends should have trusted her more.

“So, what brings you guys here?” Sara asked to John, not so politely ignoring Ava, who struggled not to roll her eyes.

“Chiron told us about Rip's scent, so we had to come here,” the other blond woman said, and Sara had to, regretfully, acknowledge her existence and turn to look at her. “I thought it was obvious, but of course you Legends aren't competent enough to make the connection and realize why we are here.”

Sara smiled coldly, gripping tight one of the rings that hid her sword to force herself not to take it out. She heard Len quietly shifting behind her, so she decided to direct her anger somewhere else, for example towards him and the fact he didn't trust her to behave.

“The tracking spell is still not working?” she asked John, and her friend looked exasperated by her fruitless attempts to ignore his captain.

“Sadly no, love. I've tried all the tracking spells I know, but still nothing. It's almost like... someone is blocking my tracking spells, or something, even if I'm not aware of an object that could do that,” John explained, frowning. His ability to track had been the reason why he had become the third component of the TB, but even with his magic he had not been successful in finding the wayward half-blood yet.

“But he can be tracked by Charlie's nose.” Sara didn't mean to, she just wanted to point out facts, but John took it as a critique to his abilities, and he looked even more frustrated than before.

“Well, the someone blocking Mr. Constantine's magic is probably unaware of Charlie's peculiar ancestors, and hence didn't care about hiding Rip's scent,” Martin pointed out, and Sara sighed in appreciation, because someone was following her same train of thought.

“Could Rip block your tracking spells?” Sara asked again, and then she turned to Ava. “While he was with us he did read some books on occult and magic, but I'm pretty sure he was unable to bend the Mist to his will, at least to the same extent as a child of Hecate like John. Was it the same while he was with you guys?”

Ava nodded. “This is a question we've been asking ourselves for a couple of months now.” John and her exchanged a brief, worried look, and then she kept talking. “Rip is powerful, sure, but blocking a tracking spell requires a vast knowledge of magic, and we're not sure Rip would be able to do such a thing.”

“Are you trying to say...”

“That Rip is with a powerful mage? The probability of that is really, really high,” John answered before Sara could finish her question.

“So Rip is not alone?” Martin wondered.

“It's a possibility we cannot ignore,” Ava agreed, something quite like sadness in her eyes, “And whomever they are, they're not from Camp Half-Blood, or we would have noticed their absence as well.”

That sent a chill down Sara's spine. She had a terrible feeling about the entire situation.

“Since we have basically no other lead, we had to come and meet you guys, even if our groups are not in the most cordial terms,” Ava continued, but a movement of John's hand stopped her.

“You want to say something?” By the annoyance in Ava's tone, Sara could understand that she didn't like much John. Maybe she valued him and his skills, but she did not like him at all. Not that Sara could blame her: John could be quite obnoxious when he wanted, and she was sure that John wanted to get on his captain's nerves more days than not.

“If I may, I have a proposal.” In the half light of the forest, John looked older than seventeen, and his paleness almost made him look like a very tired ghost who had gone out of his way to tell the children not to enter the scary house in the woods because it was haunted, as if he was a barely memorable extra in a B rated horror movie.

Sara gestured him to go on with his plan.

“I don't think we can ignore the fact that you guys found a lead to Rip while looking for the Fleece. I would like to, but it seems too much of a coincidence. We may have to entertain the idea that dear old Rip, somehow, has the Golden Fleece, or that the person (or people) who are with him have the Fleece.”

On her right, Martin nodded. “A powerful mage could have easily stolen the Fleece from camp, without leaving traces.”

“Also, if Rip hadn't been involved with whomever stole the Fleece he wouldn't have any reason to kidnap the Romans sent to help us, would he?” Sara found herself asking out loud, sighing.

What kind of mess have you found yourself in this time, Rip? she thought, shaking her head.

John nodded. “Yeah. Well, you're both right. But all of this means that finding Rip also means finding the Fleece, or at least a solid lead on where to find it, or the other way around.”

Sara didn't like where this was going.

“I suggest, then, that the Legends and the TB work together,” John proposed after a pause.

Yeah, that's exactly what I feared.

“Together, me and Charlie could easily track Rip down. My magic could enhance Rip's scent, so that she can track it through the course of days. Found Rip, we either find the missing Romans, the Fleece, both, or information on where they all are.” John turned to Sara, his eyes almost pleading. “This is the best shot we have.”

Blood was flowing slowly in Sara's veins, frozen. The idea of having to spend time with the TB – with Ava Sharpe – was the least appealing plan she could think of, yet it was the only one that had a chance of working, provided that the two captains didn't end up killing each other before finding Rip.

“This seems like a brilliant idea, Mr. Constantine, but I think we can do it ourselves,” Martin chipped in, knowing how much Sara would have hated working alongside the TB.

“Can you? I'm sure you morons know enough about magic to be able to defeat a mage powerful enough to steal the Fleece and prevent me from tracking Rip.” The venom in John's voice made Martin retreat on his seat.

“Ok fine, so you join,” Len, who hadn't talked but only observed until that point, started to say, as diplomatically as he could, his voice cold as ice.. “We only need you. You can stay with us and help us with the tracking and everything, but your captain and Green can go back to camp.”

“I am not staying without my team!”

“We're already too many! Staying would mean putting everybody more at risk than we already are. Thirteen demigods together sound like a suicide wish! Don't you agree, Sara?”

But Sara was staring at Ava, who hadn't averted her gaze from the Legend's captain since John had started to explain his plan. Sara had felt her eyes on her, yet Ava's expression was weirdly neutral, skillfully schooled, albeit a bit calculating.

“I think John is right,” Sara said cautiously, her eyes never leaving Ava's, “I think we need to work together.”

Sara could feel Len's body shift behind her back, and she heard Martin's mutterings, even if she didn't understand what he said, yet all of her attention was on Ava.

“I agree.” The TB captain finally said, turning to look at their male companions. “I'm not saying that it won't be hard, but we have to do something and we have to do it quickly.”

Sara nodded, agreeing completely with Ava for the first time ever. She couldn't help but notice that John, Martin, and Len were also surprised by the turn of events.

“I thought I would have to fight a little harder for my plan to be taken into consideration,” John muttered, and it made Sara laugh.

“Once in a while you are bound to have a good idea, John. Maybe it's reckless, but I wouldn't expect less from you.” Sara ruffled her friend's hair, knowing well how much he hated it, and then she got up from the chair. “So much for getting out of my hair in no time, huh?” At least John had the decency to look a tad ashamed.

“Let's have a quick lunch, then we'll go looking for Rip. We are his two teams, there's no way we won't find him.”

And, much to Sara's astonishment, Ava got up from her chair and didn't contradict her. If Sara hadn't know better, she would have said that Ava was almost smiling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many many thanks to my beta Call. All mistakes are mine, definitely not hers.
> 
> The next few weeks are going to be crazy (I'm moving to a different country), but I hope I'll be able to write the next chapter soon :)

**Author's Note:**

> I won't lie to you, I already know I won't be able to update regularly. However, I have already written another couple of chapters, which I will update on the next weeks, probably on Mondays.
> 
> Please let me know if you liked it! Critiques, comments, and kudos are always welcome!


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